“Weight loss injection”: Investigations against a company from Upper Austria

The case surrounding the allegedly counterfeit weight-loss medication, which was sold to a Salzburg woman by her plastic surgeon and is said to have put her life in danger, is now involving both the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Steyr public prosecutor’s office.

The Salzburg woman had to be treated in hospital in September after using the drug “Ozempic”, and on Monday she went public through her lawyers. The woman is doing well again. However, it will first be clarified whether “permanent damage has occurred,” says her lawyer Lisa Holzmann, who works in an Innsbruck law firm. Her client wants to warn others about the counterfeit medication.

“Lucky she survived that”

The Salzburg woman received the weight loss drug “Ozempic” for the first time from her Austrian-based doctor, a plastic surgeon, in January of this year. The 31-year-old is said to have received the “correct” medication several times until the “suspected counterfeit medication” was handed over to her on September 12th. On September 20, the woman ended up in the hospital with severe hypoglycemia and a seizure.

Video: Lawyer Lias Holzmann about the weight loss remedy

The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) announced last Thursday that such serious side effects were an indication that the product incorrectly contained insulin instead of the active ingredient semaglutide. You can consider yourself lucky “that she survived,” says Holzmann. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) also reported health risks after taking counterfeit products, “which can lead to death without immediate medical treatment.”

Meanwhile, the drug’s supplier reports that it delivered the product to the doctor on September 6th, but initiated a recall two days later. “However, my client was not informed about the recall by her doctor or the supplier,” says Holzmann. She will therefore exhaust all legal means and “warn other people who may have been given this most likely counterfeit medication through a legal source, namely a doctor,” the lawyers’ statement continued.

House searches in Steyr

As the OÖN learned, the Steyr public prosecutor’s office is also investigating this case. The alleged distributor or dealer of the drug in question is said to have his company and residence in the Steyr-Land district. It is also being checked whether it is a shell company and black trading.

It is still at the very beginning of the investigation and it cannot yet be said which of the four to five suspects played which role in the case. It is being investigated for serious bodily harm, and it is also possible that there was fraud. There have already been six house searches, confirmed public prosecutor’s spokeswoman Julia Rauscher.

The searches took place both on private individuals and on company premises. The public prosecutor’s office has not yet received a report on the result. It is also not clear whether counterfeit products are still in circulation. The public prosecutor’s office currently only knows the woman who got the case rolling as the injured party. “We are still at the very beginning,” says Rauscher.

The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) emphasized that there was no evidence that the counterfeit products were supplied to patients by legal pharmacies.

• also read: “Weight loss injection”: Several people affected in Austria with serious health problems

The drug most recently hit the headlines in the summer because its popularity as a weight-loss injection led to supply bottlenecks (OÖN reported). Ozempic was actually developed to treat type 2 diabetes, which is why the Austrian Diabetes Society called for an “immediate prescription stop” for pure weight loss therapies.

Counterfeits are darker

Counterfeits of “Ozempic” have already appeared in at least 14 countries, in addition to Austria and Germany, also in Great Britain, Egypt and Russia.
The fake pen, with which the drug is administered through an injection into the muscle, differs in color from the original; the blue is darker, the Federal Criminal Police Office informed.

Information can be reported online at bundeskritikamt@bmi.gv.at.

In-demand syringe: Facts about “Ozempic”

• Actually developed to treat diabetes, “Ozempic” has been in demand for figure problems for some time. The drug inhibits appetite and thus initiates weight loss.
• In Austria, around 20,000 Ozempic syringes are currently sold every month: 65 percent to diabetics, 35 percent to overweight people.
• Due to the supply bottleneck, the Austrian Diabetes Society (ÖDG) called for an immediate stop to the prescription of diabetes medications such as Ozempic and other drugs from the group of “GLP-1 receptor agonists” for pure weight loss therapies in August.
• An acute termination of therapy without medical supervision could have unfavorable consequences for those affected, says Martin Clodi, primary teacher at the Brothers of Mercy in Linz, to the OÖN.

Also read: Losing weight with diabetes injections: revolution or lifestyle trend?

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